Downtown, Neighborhood Street Parking Rates Increase

Related Tags:

CHICAGO (STMW) – If you park on the street, get ready to shell out — again.

Chicago’s parking meter rates — already the highest in the U.S. — are getting another not-so-happy new year increase to as much as $5 an hour Sunday.

The 18 percent rise in the price of hourly Loop parking from $4.25 to a five-spot was agreed when the city signed its controversial deal to lease its parking meters for 75 years in 2008.

But it’s still likely to come as a shock to motorists who were paying just $3 an hour to park in the Loop only two years ago.

And the rate rises aren’t limited to the Loop.

Neighborhood parking — which cost as little as 25 cents an hour as recently as 2008 — is increasing from $1.25 to $1.50 an hour. And downtown parking outside of the Loop increases from $2.50 to $3 an hour.

The changes are due to begin Jan. 2, but it will take up to a month to change the rates at pay and display machines covering the city’s 36,000 metered spots, according to contractor Chicago Parking Meters LLC.

Mayor Daley and the City Council backed the lease of the meters two years ago to plug a massive budget gap. But the $1.15 billion the city received from Chicago Parking Meters was $974 million less than the lease was worth, Inspector General David Hoffman calculated in 2009. Now — with 72 years of the lease left to run — just $76 million of the windfall remains.

In fact, all four cities charge significantly less. The highest rate in West Palm Beach is $2 an hour, while it is $1.50 an hour in Houston, $1 an hour in Denver and 50 cents an hour in Little Rock, city spokesmen said.

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), a longtime opponent of the lease deal, said that though the high rates will upset motorists, they are only a “small part of what’s wrong with the deal.”

With rates scheduled to increase to $6.50 by 2013 and in line with inflation after that, “this isn’t a problem that’s going to go away,” he added.

Mike Brockway, the so-called “parking ticket geek” who blogs about parking issues at theexpiredmeter.com, said that while the existing downtown rates were “fairly reasonable,” the blanket neighborhood rate, where it costs the same to park in busy Lincoln Park shopping streets as it does in poor neighborhoods like Englewood, “needs to be looked at again.”

After “48 Hours” uncovered evidence that casts doubt on the verdict that sent a teacher to prison for the death of a 16-month-old boy, the Lake County Coroner was calling for authorities to reopen the case.

Facing a steady stream of criticism from the Emanuel campaign for his stance on a potential Obama Presidential Library in Chicago, challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia backed down from his opposition to building the facility on public park land.

Police responded to the 0-100 block of North Emerald and found a man unresponsive on the bathroom floor, according to a statement from Mundelein police. The man showed symptoms of opiate overdose and police retrieved a Naloxone auto-injector kit from their squad car to revive the man.

Video News

CBS Sports Radio and TPC Las Vegas want to send you to the ultimate sports getaway right on the Vegas Strip! Enter now through March 16th for a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas during one of the biggest weekends in college basketball!